James Michael Harter (born January 7, 1979), known professionally as J. Michael Harter, is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist. Signed to the independent

Broken Bow Records BBR Music Group (formerly Broken Bow Records) is an American record label based in Nashville. Founded in July 1999 by Benny Brown, the label specializes in country music. The label's executive vice president is Jon Loba. Craig Morgan had the f ...

in 2002, Harter released his debut album ''Unexpected Change'' that year. It produced one single on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

) charts in "Hard Call to Make", which peaked at No. 45. Following its release, Harter founded his own label, Big Al, and later joined his sister and brother in a country trio called SEVEN (later The Harters).

Biography

J. Michael Harter was born James Michael Harter. The middle child of five, he has two older sisters, a younger sister, and a younger brother. Harter was inspired at an early age by

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait has sold over 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He holds ...

and

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...

, and would spend hours alone in his room, teaching himself to play guitar along with their songs. While in high school, he wrote his first song, for his girlfriend. Starting at age seventeen, Harter began performing locally in his native

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. By 1999, he had moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

in pursuit of a musical career, eventually meeting record producer Blake Mevis. Harter then signed to

, then a newly established independent record label, in 2002. His debut single, "Hard Call to Make", spent sixteen weeks on the ''

'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now

) charts, peaking at No. 45. It was the only chart single from his debut album ''Unexpected Change'' (2002). The song was a ballad in which the narrator describes the choices he had to make in life. ''Unexpected Change'' received a favorable review from

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

critic Jolene Downs, who said that although Harter did not look like a country singer, the songs showcased his singing and songwriting talents well. Harter later exited Broken Bow's roster after the release of his album, and by 2004 he had formed another label called Big Al, in association with the

Lofton Creek Records Lofton Creek Records was an American independent country music record label. The label is notable for releasing " I Loved Her First", a number-one single for the band Heartland. History Harold Shafer and his wife Vicky founded Lofton Creek Recor ...

label. A year later, he joined his sister Leslie and brother Scott to form a country music trio called SEVEN. They released a single entitled "Drunk Chicks" in 2005. The trio, renamed The Harters, resumed recording in 2009 under the production of

Keith Stegall Robert Keith Stegall (born November 1, 1955) is an American country music recording artist and record producer. Active since 1980, Stegall has recorded two major-label studio albums: 1985's ''Keith Stegall'' and 1996's ''Passages'', although he ...

Discography

''Unexpected Change'' (2002)

#"If You Never Loved Me" (

Marv Green Marv Green (born in California) is an American country music songwriter. He is known for co-writing Lonestar's 1999 single " Amazed", which reached number 1 on both the Hot Country Songs and ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts. This song won him a Song ...

, Bill Luther) – 3:16 #"Hard Call to Make" (

Steve Seskin Steve Seskin is an American singer, songwriter, and musician whose songs have been recorded by recording artists Choya Partridge Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Waylon Jennings, Tim McGraw, Collin Raye, and Mark Wills among others. The debut sing ...

, Mark Alan Springer) – 3:33 #"Sugar and Gasoline" (

Josh Kear Josh Kear is a multi-Grammy Award winning songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2007, Kear co-wrote Carrie Underwood's hit " Before He Cheats" with Chris Tompkins. The song dominated the US Hot Country Songs chart for five weeks and earned ...

Aimee Mayo Aimee Mayo (born September 28, 1971) is an American author and songwriter from Gadsden. She has written songs recorded by artists such as Tim McGraw, Meghan Trainor, The Backstreet Boys, Billy Currington, and Kellie Pickler. She co-wrote the ...

Chris Lindsey Christopher Marsh Lindsey is a Grammy nominated American country music songwriter and record producer. He has created major hits for Taylor Swift, The Civil Wars, Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Kellie Pickler, Keith Urban, Tim Mc ...

) – 3:30 #"On My Way Home" (Joe Doyle,

Chris Tompkins Christopher G. Tompkins (born Muscle Shoals, Alabama) is an American songwriter based in Nashville. Since 2002 he has co-written songs for pop, rock, and country artists Jimmy Buffett, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean ...

) – 4:00 #"Everything in Arizona" (J. Michael Harter) – 3:30 #"Who You're Lovin' Now" (

Trey Bruce Trey Edwin Bruce is an American songwriter. Bruce has Fourteen ASCAP Awards for the most played songs at radio and has written ten Number One singles on the ''Billboard''. "Look Heart, No Hands", "Spirit of a Boy, Wisdom of a Man" and "Whisper M ...

, Tim Johnson) – 4:02 #"You're in the Right Place" (Shane Teeters, Kerry Kurt Phillips) – 4:07 #"Losing You" (Monty Criswell, Tom Schoepf) – 3:06 #"Somewhere in California" (Harter, Tompkins,

Kent Blazy Kent Blazy (born in Lexington, Kentucky) is an American country music songwriter. His credits include several singles for Garth Brooks (including Brooks' first number one hit, "If Tomorrow Never Comes"), as well as singles by Gary Morris, Diamond ...

) – 3:38 #"The First Time" (Harter) – 3:49

Extended plays

Singles

References

External links

J Michael Harter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harter, J. Michael 1979 births American country singer-songwriters BBR Music Group artists Living people Musicians from Phoenix, Arizona 21st-century American singer-songwriters Country musicians from Arizona Singer-songwriters from Arizona